


What makes us human?

by Gotcocomilk



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, I just love ed so much I had to write him, then this happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 00:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18487900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gotcocomilk/pseuds/Gotcocomilk
Summary: He took another step, automail sinking into the shifting ground beneath his feet. Still he only looked forward— he had been Sacrifice too long, and he’d be damned he’d let that title stick to his pride any longer.The dunes stunk of blood, but Ed would dance above them.





	What makes us human?

**Author's Note:**

> Here that gentle shrieking, far in the distance? That's me being dragged into a dead fandom by Edward Elric. Mourn me, please.

_35 liters of water to quench the sands’ thirst._

He marched forward, golden braid swinging against his back in a rhythm that he become endless over the last few days, weeks, _years._ Strands of hair hung over his face, sprinkling across his vision like spun metal, glinting in the desert sun. The sands were hotter than open flame, dry as the heavy paper of his journals. Ed felt like his very skin was kindling, stretched out and presented to the noonday light as sacrifice.

 

He took another step, automail sinking into the shifting ground beneath his feet. Still he only looked forward— he had been _Sacrifice_ too long, and he’d be damned he’d let that title stick to his pride any longer.

 

The dunes stunk of blood, but Ed would dance above them.

 

_250 grams of salt to sow the dunes with sorrow._

_Thump._ His braid swung with another step, hair painfully heavy against the tender skin of his back. A bare foot hit soft against the burning sands, sank into the golden grains, felt them thread between his toes. Shoes had faded to a memory along this journey, water to a dream.

 

Here he was alone, here he was but a challenger in the face of the endless desert. A reasonable man would have turned back, would have let the sands fade from mind and skin. A weak man would have fallen into the dunes and given his body to the desert.

 

_800 grams of phosphorous to keep the desert shining._

 

But Ed was _relentless._ A smile burst over his face, stretched cracked lips into some facsimile of a smile. God, he wanted to laugh _._ At eleven, with the fat of childhood still clinging to his face and a cruel naivete hanging from his hair, he had seen the face of God.

 

At sixteen, he had stood against God and barred steel fangs. They had glinted in the light of that place, shining with the conviction of a thousand men and a hundred regrets. He would not bend, he would not break:

 

He was the Fullmetal Alchemist, and no desert would be the end of him

 

_5 grams of iron to keep him strong._

**Author's Note:**

> Hear is my [Tumblr](https://thehoardofthegreatdragon.tumblr.com), feel free to come say hi. (Or you can leave a comment on your way out, I'm not picky :p). Also! I love hear if I wrote a particularly captivating or interesting line-- feel free to include it in a comment to feed your friendly neighborhood writing monster.


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